Ammonia Leak Found in International Space Station

The International Space System has a leak in its power system, NASA said Thursday.

NASA declared there is no immediate danger to the station’s six-member crew.

The crew initially reported seeing white flakes of ammonia coming out of the space station Thursday. NASA helped locate the leak with the use of external cameras.

Ammonia runs through the station’s giant array panels. The station uses ammonia to cool down its power systems.

The leak was found in a cooling loop in a solar array, NASA said. According to NASA Spokesman Bob Jacobs, engineers are trying out electronics just in case the loop shuts down.

The earth-orbiting space station is equipped with back-up systems.

Space station commander Chris Hadfield said in a twitter post that the situation, though serious, is now stabilized.

The space station also has enough back up emergency ships for the crew, but there are no reported plans to use them.

Source: edition.cnn.com, huffingtonpost.com, foxnews.com